Okay, I don`t play, but my daughter does. She is 14 and has played for 3 years and was first chair in her school band as well as being an accomplished flautist and tenor sax player. Her piccolo is... well its actually rusted so worn I can`t even tell what brand it is. Its made of plastic with silver plated keys. Anyway, "Petey" as she calls it, willbe going back to the school after she graduates this year. I am currently debating on purchasing her a new piccolo or Tenor Sax as a graduation gift. I`ve been trying to research piccolos and quite frankly love the sound of the wood ones. She will be in marching band, concert band and jazz band this year as well as playing semi professionally in a jazz band on some weekends. Currently I favor Gemeinhardt and I had been leaning towards the 4w model, but a lot of what I have read said that wood models are not good for marching bands due to humidity and cold, leading to cracking and damage. Then I began leaning towards the 4s and 4ss models, but have been told that metal piccolos are too harsh for concert and jazz scenarios. She does not like plastic and quite frankly, I don`t either. I have a bduget of up to $1000.00 but would prefer to spend somewhere in the area of $600.00 to $800.00. She is quite versatile also, being able to play guitar and keyboards as well, so I would like to get her something that will get her through highschool and possibly be satisfactory for college as well. She graduates next Friday, so any help or insight, including educationals website urls, would be appreciated.

Bob

If u go to http://www.fluteworld.com u can get piccolos for a round 400 bucks, so maybe u can get 2. 1 for marching band and 1 for concert band. u would use the concert piccolo for jazz band to, but the concert piccolos r a little more exspensvie then the marching band piccolos just becuz of the wood.am 14 too and i play piccolo also and my parents don`t want to pay a lot of money for something thats like 2inches , so if u go to flute world.com they sould have some cheap piccolos, but u also can go to ebay.com they have some good piccolos there with funny colours, but get something from flute world cuz some of the piccolos from ebay suck and there poorly made.

Kevin,
Good luck with a piccolo.

p.s if u get a metal piccolo and it cold outsiad just put the head joint in your pocket so the head joint can warm up.

This topic was recently done to death. What a shame even not-so-old threads get lost off the bottom of this forum.

Although this forum has improved immeasurable with a degree of monitoring, it is time we all moved to a place with a structured format, a search facility that is forum specific and works with more than a single word (!), and older threads preserved.

Such as: http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=138

Sorry. That was a LITTLE unkind. I have just discovedred that hitting "Show All" will (eventually!) display the older threads. Some structure would make them far more readily accessible.

If you`re going to buy her a piccolo, it would be best beforehand to decide where she`s going to be playing it. Obviously, wooden piccolos are not playable outside. Really, if you try, you`ll regret it. But I know you don`t seem to like the idea of her playing a metal one inside. So somehow, a decision must be made. What`s more important: Playing the piccolo in concert band, or in marching band? Then go from there to decide what type of piccolo to buy.

Of course, there`s nothing wrong with a metal piccolo in concert band. It can definitely stick out and be difficult to blend, but a good musician has a lot more control over that than you might think. I knew a girl who played a metal piccolo in a regional band, and her sound fit in with everyone else`s very well. She was only playing a Gemeinhardt, too.

If you are set on a wooden one, consider draping some thin plastic film (eg dry cleaner bag) over it when playing outside. This won`t affect sound, but will maintain humidity, and protect the instrument from the rain. :-)

My suggestion to you is to get an all plastic piccolo. They are good for marching and concert. They blend much better in a concert setting than a metal piccolo and have the ease of a wood picc.

you can totally march a wooden piccolo...(you just have to make sure that your daughter is up to maintaining it because, granted, it can get effected by the humidity) however, another problem with wooden piccolos is that if a concert hall is heated real awkward-like, it might have the same problems as some of the oboes with cracking etc...

but wooden piccolo`s sound the best

Well She tried 11 different piccolos today and decided on an Armstrong metal silver piccolo. She chose that brand primarily because the key layout was almost identicle to her flute which is also an armstrong. She is extremely happy and the store beat the best internet price by nearly $200.

You could get her a wooden piccolo for indoor music and for out door gigs she could use her plastic picc so she won`t risk having her wooden one crack..Good luck!

I sure hope that your daughter is only going to play that metal piccolo in marching band. It will not do good for concert use. You will find that out shortly enought though...

She is using it for both marching band and concert. Frankly she played it all day today and it was not harsh sounding or shrill at all. It was very melodic. She played it both outside and in the house. Her instructers taught her never to let the instrument control her, always be in control of the instrument.

Well than, good luck with a metal piccolo. You will need it. Not even a professional can make a metal piccolo blend. I have yet to hear that. You would have been much better with an all plastic piccolo.

I have totally disagreed before, and I`ll do it now. I have DEFINITELY heard metal piccolos played very beautifully. In my experience it depends almost entirely on the player, and perhaps on what indoctrination they have or haven`t had!

rjf1205, it is good to hear that your experience has supported this.

"rjf1205, it is good to hear that your experience has supported this."

What ecperience? His daughter is the one that plays, not him.
I am sorry, Arak, but I don`t know too many flutist that would agree with you.